2014 FIFA World Cup™ Quarter-Finals: Brazil vs Colombia|Fri, Jul 4, 4:00 PMET

Again, trust me, I am not trying to justify it. And I agree with you every bit. But we DON'T know exactly what was said. One person is giving one story, another person a different one. Any conclusions we come to are assumptions.

Zidane is snarky. A couple years ago he was in Marseille and I had him sign my 2010 French jersey that has his name and number on the back and he made a comment about why his name was on a jersey that didn't even make it past the group stage. But he did it in a funny way. He isn't the kind of guy to sit and contrive ways to let people's imaginations run wild.

Stupid mistake. Bad situation got the better of him. He is still the greatest footballer of our nation's history and a nice guy. That is all I am saying.

 

I believe we do, and I've explained why above.

A flawed genius, as I mentioned earlier. Like some of the many who came before him (ie; George Best, Maradona, Garrincha...even Pele if you consider some of the ridiculous things that come out of his mouth )

I don't know what kind of guy he is off the pitch since I don't know him at all, but like I said previously too he has had a history of other violent events, head buts...kleat stomps. So it wasn't like this was the first time he lost his cool and overreacted. I don't hate the guy and was actually a big fan of his work in the final of 1998 (and not only then) but for you bigger fans and himself, his final footballing moment was disgraceful and I do believe he has no one butt (pun intended ) himself to blame.

Anyway, this is sport. We have to accept the good and the ugly and the fact that our favorite teams at the international level will lose more often than they win when we talk about capturing trophies. All the agonizing moments make the sweet taste of victory even more special. I know this too well, especially 1990, 94 and 2000 was a wound that still hasn't healed. Maybe France will be kind to us in 2016

 

With all the hype of the Euros going on now, it will be a national embarrassment for us if we don't win. Everything has been about how we have finally redeemed ourselves for the World Cup in 2010 and the past Euros, and people are heaping outrageous expectations on Pogba and our other young players. I would not be at all surprised to see us stumble and fall.

 

Trust me, not as embarrassing as our last two WC campaigns.

 

I think your team is on the rise and will be dangerous for at the Euro. They played plenty of very good football in this tournament and showed excellent team cohesion. We can not say the same in Italy. Best of luck.

 

You have a ton of young talent, as well. El Shaarawy has become a household name. I have been falling over myself hoping that we could bring Mattia Destro to Marseille. Doubt it would ever happen, but when the kid is in form, he is amazing.

I honestly think you guys should get rid of Balotelli. But you would know better than I.

 

Most of us agree. In the very least, I hope that the next CT leaves him off the team until he proves himself at club first.

 

I agree very much on the young talent. My question is whether or not we took a step backward in this tournament as a team.
But I especially agree on Balotelli. When Italy has won it has been because the team was bigger than the individual players. In 2006 our best attacking players like Totti took a smaller role to the team overall. In 1982 great team defense was the key. Mario does not convince me that he will ever understand this concept. Les Bleus played as a team in this tournament, and that could be vital in 2016. But in this case, you know better than I. Cheers.

 

You need another Fabio Cannavaro. With some good goalkeeping, strong leadership at the back, and all those talented forwards you have, I think Italy is one of the most promising European nations.

 

Classy fellow, this gentleman...

https://www.facebook.com/Beckham/photos/a.146755971570.121766.84218631570/10152088822441571/?type=1

 

Both Geiger and Carballo crews stay on in Brasil, meaning that FIFA has basically given them a stamp of approval for allowing rugby to be played instead of football.

Of course we already knew that given both Zuniga and Matuidi never received any retroactive punishment for their fouls.

 

Breaking--at least for this thread:

FIFA will not impose any punishment on Zuniga for the kneeing incident on Neymar.

EDIT:
Article in English saying same thing and that appeal of Thiago Silva yellow also denied.

 

Good news.

 

The referee was actually following FIFA's instructions. Before the cup they ask the referees not to give too many cards.

 

LOL deep pal is in deep doo-doo now!

 

Why the hell would they lift Silvas ban? Cause of neymar? Lol they don't owe them jack. If brazil feel like they can only win if neymar plays and depends on one player, then they don't even deserve to be in the final

 

Carballo starts from such a low baseline of cards that when you tell him not to give too many, he ends up giving virtually none, like we saw. After seeing the consequences of the Bra-Col match, FIFA may give new instructions. Since Rodriguez starts from an incredibly high baseline of cards, this could be problematic. But that's another topic, addressed at length in the Brasil x Germany semifinal thread.

Anyway, with the post above I was just announcing news I heard for others' benefit, I wasn't commenting on it.

I think the T. Silva decision is correct, even if we assume for the sake of argument that the initial call to give him the yellow card was incorrect. Refs on-the-field decisions should stand unless the ref clearly abused his discretion in making the call. Here, Brasil didn't show that. Giving the yellow on that play was clearly within the ref's discretion. So the decision should stand.

As for the lack of punishment... whatever. It's not going to bring Neymar back. I've made my views known based on the evidence I saw. I'll defer to the disciplinary panel and assume without conceding they have some further basis for their decision.

 

Yes. Cuadrado and Zuniga were fouling hard out of frustration. They couldn't pass Brazil's defense and started l0sing their temper.

Brazil was playing rough because the team just had played with Chile and the Chileans play incredibly rough. That game was a battle.

As you said, South Americans tend to play rougher, particularly against Brazil. I bet we may see Brazil playing better and fouling less against Germany.

 

FIFA has stated officially that this is not true... But who knows.

 

This. There were fouls that just involved pushing the Brazilian to the ground. Some warranted yellows. But again, whatever. The game is over. Colombia are in Bogota. But Neymar is out. A costly victory, made costlier by appelação--which doesn't become justifiable due to the frustration of losing. Done with this particular topic and thread, since all the pending issues are resolved.

Hopefully, because with Chiquidracula on the pitch, the Bra-Col would likely have ended 9 x 8 or 10 x 9.

 

Horacio Elizondo said it was. Same with booking dives and corner kick struggles... bt who knows
If it looks like a pig, smells like a pig and eats like a pig, guess what...

 

So Chile plays rough.
So how come was it that Brazil ended the match with more fouls than those that Chile got in the whole game ?

What was it back then ? 28 for Brazil vs. 24 for Chile ?


Fact is brazilian's don't play the "jogo bonito" any more, and replaced it for the "jogo sujo" now.
And what most angers them, is when they see the other teams play it likewise, against them. As if they were the only ones entitled of playing it like that, getting out of it without getting any calls against them, while at the same time the other team to get all the calls. If by any chance, they get one fair referee, who is willing to call out every foul play for both teams the same, to them will be considered as being biased or definitively a bad referee.
.
.
Now, you want to know if I'm biased against Brazil ?
You bet, I am.
I will always prefer teams which play more cleanly over those who play dirty. And to me, the Brazil from 10 years ago and before was a joy to sight, but the Brazil from now isn't, and definitively plays dirty.

 

They have actually, read back some posts.. those kind of posts to me should be moderated, because they are simple attempts on trolling, I started putting people on ignore because it's getting really bad.

 

At 5 min in the first half, a Chilean drove his knee into Neymar's thigh. He left the game in pain and was limping for days. They beat the crap out of our players. The fact that we had more fouls doesn't mean they we had more rough fouls.

 

something not being shown by a lot of people around here...